Arcade Fires Funeral was released on September 14, 2004. Fronted by the husband-and-wife team of Win Butler and Régine Chassagne, the Arcade Fires emotional debut -- rendered even more poignant by the dedications to recently departed family members contained in its liner notes -- is brave, empowering, and dusted with something that many of the indie-rock genres more contrived acts desperately lack: an element of real danger. Funeral s mourners -- specifically Butler and Chassagne -- inhabit the same post-apocalyptic world as London Suedes Dog Man Star; they are broken, beaten, and ferociously romantic, reveling in the brutal beauty of their surroundings like a heathen Adam & Eve. Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels), the first of four metaphorical forays into the geography of the soul, follows a pair of young lovers who meet in the middle of the town through tunnels that connect to their bedrooms. Over a soaring piano lead thats effectively doubled by distorted guitar, they reach a Lord of the Flies-tinged utopia where they cant even remember their names or the faces of their weeping parents. Butler sings like Radioheads Jonny Greenwood used to play, like a lion-tamer whose whip grows shorter with each and every lash. He can barely contain himself, and when he lets loose its both melodic and primal, like Berlin-era Bowie or British Sea Power. Neighborhood #2 (Laïka) examines suicidal desperation through an angular Gang of Four prism; the hypnotic wash of strings and subtle meter changes of Neighborhood #4 (7 Kettles) winsomely capture the mundane doings of day-to-day existence; and Neighborhood #3 (Power Out), Funerals victorious soul-thumping core, is a goose bump-inducing rallying cry centered around the notion that the powers out in the heart of man, take it from your heart and put it in your hand. The Arcade Fire are not bereft of whimsy. Crown of Love is like a wedding cake dropped in slow motion, utilizing a Johnny Mandel-style string section and a sweet, soda-pop stand chorus to provide solace to a jilted lover yearning for a way back into the fold, and Haiti relies on a sunny island melody to explore the complexities of Chassagnes mercurial homeland. However, its the sheer power and scope of cuts like Wake Up -- featuring all 15 musicians singing in unison -- and the mesmerizing, early-Roxy Music pulse of Rebellion (Lies) that make Funeral the remarkable achievement that it is. These are songs that pump blood back into the heart as fast and furiously as its draining from the sleeve on which it beats, and by the time Chassagne dissects her love of riding In the Backseat with the radio on, despite her desperate fear of driving, Funerals singular thread is finally revealed; love does conquer all, especially love for the cathartic power of music. Review by James Christopher Monger
Posted on: Sun, 14 Sep 2014 07:39:19 +0000
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